Tamerlan Tsamaev after he fought in the 201-pound division boxing match during the 2009 Golden Gloves National Tournament of Champions May 4, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah. / Glenn DePriest, Getty Images

by Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

by Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. â?? Katherine Russell and her parents live in the kind of neighborhood that has a bike path to the beach and where the lawns are neat and the dogs stay politely tucked behind electric force fields. Carved out of a tall pine forest, Coriander Lane has room for only seven oversized houses.

In the wake of this week's bombing and manhunt in Boston, neighbors here are wondering how Russell, 24, a surgeon's daughter, could have gotten mixed up with a terrorism suspect.

Soon after police identified the deceased bombing suspect as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, news reports surfaced that Russell not only was married to the 26-year-old Tsarnaev, whom she'd met in college, but that she had converted to Islam and that the couple had a 3-year-old daughter.

Russell's family late Friday issued a statement that read, "Our daughter has lost her husband today, the father of her child."

It continued, "We cannot begin to comprehend how this horrible tragedy occurred. In the aftermath of the Patriot's Day horror, we know that we never really knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev. â?¦ Our hearts are sickened by the knowledge of the horror he has inflicted." The family asked for privacy.

By Saturday, neighbors in this hushed upscale suburb south of Providence were still trying to process the incredible revelation, reluctant to believe their neighborhood's connection to the worst act of terror on U.S. soil in more than a decade.

"It's unbelievable," said neighbor Pamela King, who stood in the doorway of her home and bent down every so often to gently block a black cat from escaping out the front door. King said she was out of town all week, following news accounts of the Boston Marathon bombing and manhunt from afar. A friend on Saturday warned her, "Be prepared when you get back to your neighborhood."

King, who has lived on the block 3Â½ years, said Katherine Russell's younger sister, Anna, once babysat for her but that she had never met the older sister or her husband. She said she never saw a young mother outside with a baby - with or without a stroller. King recalled seeing a moving van up the street more than a year ago, but said she couldn't be sure whether it had marked Katherine's arrival.

Karen Mather, her next-door neighbor, said she sees Russell's parents waving as she walks or drives by but that "they were really not here a lot" in recent years.

King said she's "outside all the time" and had no idea Katherine and her baby lived a few doors away.

Early Saturday afternoon, a reporter approached the Russell home's open garage door as two young women climbed into a car. One of the women yelled, "Are you kidding? Get off our property!"

A few moments later, a late-model Volvo with Massachusetts plates pulled out of the driveway and disappeared down the street, the passenger covered in blankets.

A few hours later, Judith Russell, Katherine's mother, appeared briefly. Asked by a reporter if her daughter was all right, she said, "Yeah, you know, in a sense."

Katherine's father, Providence surgeon Russell Warren, refused to answer several questions yelled at him simultaneously, referring all questions to the family's attorney, who did not immediately return a call for comment.

King said she hopes the young widow can shed more light on the bombing.

"If she has any information that can help, I think she definitely needs to come forward," she said.